Questions about sweet potato…especially the leaves
I’m reading the blogs on sweet potato and will want to grow sweet potato next year. However, i am growing sweet potato mainly for the leaves/vines. I am from West Africa and the leaves and vines are the most nutritious of all green vegetables. I heard that the leaves are eaten in SouthAmerica, too. But i wasn’t aware that there were varying kinds of sweet potato. So i don’t know where to start.
Please help me!!! Thanks in advance
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Gardening Dummy
Well, you definitely are no Gardening Dummy: you have one up on this Midwestern American girl! I did some research and it seems this is a fairly common side dish in Taiwanese, Latin American and Western African cuisine. They are generally prepared by boiling with garlic, a little vegetable oil and dashed with salt, but I also found one recipe for a stir-fried option that included red chilies and a little soy sauce. Another recipe suggested cooking with coconut milk instead of water. The leaves are high in Vitamins C, A and B2 (Riboflavin) and one research study claims they are a good source of Lutein. The darker the leaf the more Vitamin A they contain, according to traditional nutrition wisdom.
The leaves from any variety of Ipomoea batatas, or sweet potato, that is grown for the tuber’s culinary consumption, are edible. One source mentioned particular cultivars have been developed for just the leaves but did not mention which ones. Leaves can be picked within 42 days of planting, typically, and frequent harvesting will promote development of more side shoots. Adding a lot of organic matter to the soil will also stimulate more leaf growth. The leaves are listed as a good substitute for spinach.
Sounds like it’s time to harvest a few leaves and give it a try. Let us know your favorite recipes.
Karen